Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered review: So much prettier but not quite perfect

Is a seven-year-old game too young for a facelift? Especially one that is still looking pretty good today?

Horizon Zero Dawn (HZD), a third-person action adventure game set in a post-apocalyptic future, was released exclusively for the PlayStation 4 back in 2017. It was followed by the downloadable content (DLC) pack, The Frozen Wilds, in the same year, and then ported to the PC in 2020.

The game was critically acclaimed, with a compelling story of a terrifying future brought about by humankind’s misguided superiority and hubris. With stunning visuals, cinematic quality cutscenes, satisfying gameplay that involves whacking robotic machines, as well as an immersive open-world to explore, HZD makes for a fabulous adventure. It also doesn’t hurt that its Aloy, the kind, brave and sassy protagonist, is extremely pretty as well. 

Following the success of HZD, the sequel, Horizon Forbidden West (HFW), was released on PlayStation 4 and 5 in 2022. While working on HFW, Nixxes, the game developer which specialises in PC ports of PlayStation games, saw an opportunity to enhance the visuals and animations of HZD to match those of the 2022 sequel.

According to Nixxes, they referred to the original concept art for HZD and were able to better match the grand vision today. 

Back in 2017, in my original review for HZD, I thought the game looked absolutely amazing on the PlayStation 4, and I didn’t think it would be possible for the game to look better. But with the Remastered taking advantage of more powerful gaming hardware and displays of today compared to seven years ago, an upgrade doesn’t seem so unthinkable.  

What’s changed

I played HZD Remastered provided by Sony for review on my PlayStation 5. Thankfully, my saved games from the original HZD can be ported over to the Remastered version, so I can start playing where I had left off. For comparison purposes, I played through the unremastered original version of HZD on PC just to remember what it looked like. 

The first thing that struck me was that the game loading time has significantly improved in the Remastered version. The game now loads up in less than a minute, faster than the time it takes for me to read the hints on the load screen.

But the biggest changes are the game’s visuals and animations. Instead of just applying a layer of makeup over the original HZD, the Remastered version adds a lot more visual quality and animations to the game.

Ambient elements such as foliage, water, sky and lighting are enhanced to create a more realistic environment, and there is noticeably more movement and dynamism in the open world.

Comparing Aloy’s face in the original (left) versus the Remastered (right). SCREENSHOTS: Yap Hui Bin

For instance, there is constant movement in the natural scenery, like butterflies flitting around plants, snow falling off trees, and grass moving in the wind. There is also denser and more varied foliage all around in the forested areas, and clouds of sand being blown about in the dry desert biomes. HZD Remastered also features much further draw distances, which make the scenery a lot more breathtaking when viewed from the top of towers and mountains.

Another big improvement is how HZD Remastered depicts water and wetness. Bodies of water now look much better, with realistic reflections adapting to light, with ripples and splashes on the water surface.

One of my gripes about the original game is that the characters’ skin looks very waxy when wet. This is fixed in the Remastered version, where we can now see droplets of water on the skin instead of a waxy sheen.

Machines at night as seen in the original (left) and the Remastered (right). SCREENSHOTS: Yap Hui Bin

There are also notable improvements made to the lighting for the day and night cycles. In the original HZD, some of the scenes were very reddish or pinkish during dusk, and these have been toned down in the Remastered version to a more natural hue.

The night scenes with brightly lit machines definitely look a lot better in the Remastered version, with improved clarity and reflections from the lights emitted by the machines. 

The villages and cities are also more populated with more NPCs (non-playable characters) and more varied animations portraying their activities. More details can also be seen, such as puddles on the streets, textures on the walls as well as children playing and dropping things. In the city of Meridian, there is even a new NPC feeding geese, which was not in the original!

One of the most scrutinised aspects for most gamers are the faces of characters in the game, especially of the protagonist, Aloy. She’s already very pretty in the original game, but the Remastered makes her even more stunning.

The closeups of Aloy’s face during cutscenes reveal a lot of detail and realism, even the fine fuzz and water droplets on her face. In addition, details of how snow sticks to Aloy’s armour, and how the snow on the ground gets indented where she steps, adds to the realism. 

The Remastered edition also adds animated scenes for poignant monologues, which used to take place in an over-the-shoulder perspective but now focus on the face and the character’s expression while speaking, adding a deeper emotional dimension to the game. 

More than just visual enhancements, HZD Remastered also takes advantage of the haptic vibrations offered by the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller.

Vibrations punctuate impactful events in the game, such as drum beats during musical performances, footsteps of gigantic machines. Expect a more realistic feel on your hands holding the DualSense controller as Aloy handles her bow.  

There are also more settings that you can tweak in HZD Remastered compared to the original. This is closer in line to its sequel, where you can adjust the image quality, vibration settings, and even choose to run the game at 30fps, 40fps and 60fps (frames per second), letting you take advantage of the technology offered by modern displays.

Still, there are some aspects that the remaster hasn’t done that well in. Some of the night scenes seem to have contrast overdone, such that some subtle details are lost, especially on the shadows on the characters’ faces. There are also occasional issues of Aloy’s hair disappearing behind her armour and skin, which I observed during a critical cutscene.

I also notice that some animations of NPCs are glitchy, with jerky head movements, and also hair and necklaces that disappear into a character’s skin. Some NPCs’ teeth also look unnaturally large, which is rather disconcerting. If it’s perfection you seek, then the HZD Remaster will not meet that standard. 

Shockingly, I also experienced my very first game crash on the PlayStation 5 with HZD Remastered, when I was trying to navigate the menu to upgrade Aloy’s skills.

For those who have played the sequel HFW, and are hoping for certain gameplay mechanisms from HFW to be included in the HZD Remastered, such as the super useful Sunwing glider, underwater exploration or powerful weapons, it’s not happening since that will require a whole new gameplay upgrade!

How pretty is pretty enough?

For a seven-year-old game that still looks pretty amazing on the PlayStation 5 and the PC, one might wonder if a remake is really necessary. I think the original PlayStation 4 and PC versions are perfectly playable today and still hold up pretty well if not compared to the 2022 sequel. Also, without knowing what you are missing, you wouldn’t feel that the original game is lacking.

For a lesser game, a remaster like this will probably not justify the effort and cost. But HZD is a masterpiece that is definitely worth replaying.

I played through once when it was launched and again with the Frozen Wilds expansion. While I was testing out this Remastered edition, I felt the urge to complete it once more, not just in appreciation of the prettier visuals but being reminded again why I love this game so much. 

TL;DR

So what is the price of beauty, and is it worth spending your money on it? If you already own the PS4 version of HZD or HZD Complete Edition, this Remastered upgrade costs just S$12.99 on the PlayStation Store.

That is a no-brainer if you are thinking of replaying the game again. The added graphics beautification with more dynamic sceneries and added animations makes this price tag look pretty reasonable.

The DLC, The Frozen Wilds, is also included in the Remastered edition, so it’s an added bonus if you haven’t played the expansion yet. One caveat is that if you own the game on a disc, the disc still needs to be inserted in order to upgrade to the Remastered version, and also while you are playing the game.

For the PC version, the Remastered version costs an additional S$12.22 if you already have the original HZD. One drawback for the PC version is that you need a PlayStation Network account to play, so it is an additional step needed if you don’t already have a PlayStation account.

In case you haven’t had the chance to play HZD at all, this is the perfect time to jump in! Without the base game, the HZD Remaster is priced at S$67.90 for the PC on Steam and Epic Games, and for the PlayStation 5 in the PlayStation Store.